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Corporate Buyer Demand Driving Renewable Markets That States Can Capture

December 06, 2016 00:00
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Advanced Energy Economy

Reports Show Robust Growth in Corporate Demand for Renewable Energy and Pathway for States to Capture Market Benefits

In new publications, Advanced Energy Economy shows that 71 of Fortune 100 companies and 43% of Fortune 500 firms have set renewable energy or sustainability targets, while the Center for New Energy Economy at Colorado State University outlines way for states to take advantage of these corporate commitments

[Washington, D.C., and Denver, December 6, 2016] — A market brief released today by national business group Advanced Energy Economy finds that renewable energy demand among U.S. companies is significant and growing quickly. Another report published today by the Center for New Energy Economy at Colorado State University (CNEE) explores a pathway for state energy markets to meet this growing corporate demand for renewable energy procurement.

In 2016 Corporate Advanced Energy Commitments, AEE reports that 71 of the Fortune 100 companies have set renewable energy or sustainability targets, up from 60 just two years ago. Among the Fortune 500, commitments have held steady at 43 percent, or 215 firms. Of these companies, 22 have committed to powering all of their operations with renewable energy.

“Companies are committed to purchase renewable energy one way or another—it’s just a question of where and how, and that’s a race every state should want to win,” said Malcolm Woolf, senior vice president of policy and government affairs at AEE. “Clearly, this trend isn’t going away. States that make it easier for companies to purchase renewable energy will be rewarded with new economic development, tax revenues and jobs."

The AEE brief notes that in many states, corporations encounter regulatory obstacles that make renewable energy procurement difficult or impossible. Some companies, such as Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook, have been able to work out deals through their local utilities that enabled them to purchase new renewable energy to meet their electricity need, but these arrangements may not be available to companies that lack their resources and experience. At the same time, states differ in their willingness and ability to accommodate this corporate purchasing, potentially thwarting the desires of their biggest corporate citizens for renewable energy and discouraging such companies from siting operations in their state. The CNEE report points to ways states can gain from making these accommodations through their utility oversight process.

“Microsoft is making great progress towards our goal to use more clean energy each year, leading to our 100 percent goal,” said Rob Bernard, chief environmental strategist at Microsoft. The technology giant is ranked number 25 on the 2016 Fortune list. “We’ve found that partnering with utilities and governments in states like Virginia, Wyoming and elsewhere can bring new energy to the grid in a way that helps our business and the state. But there’s more work still to be done to accelerate the pace of this progress.”

“Salesforce has set a target to meet 100% of our energy needs through renewable energy, and we have made great progress, for example, with wind projects in West Virginia and Texas,” said Patrick Flynn, Director of Sustainability at Salesforce. "The more options available to us in a given state, the better and we're always looking at new and innovative solutions.”

Across different sectors, companies also face quite different challenges. Walmart, as a retailer with stores in all 50 states, has to navigate 50 different state policy landscapes, some of which currently accommodate the company’s preferred renewable energy purchasing methods and others do not.

“Utilities have been working with their large corporate customers for years to ensure good outcomes under demand-side management programs, and there’s no reason this success can’t translate over to renewable procurement,” said Jeff Lyng, senior policy advisor at CNEE and lead author of the paper. “We see a promising opportunity for solutions that are not just mutually acceptable but mutually beneficial to utilities, customers, and developers, which is an exciting prospect.”

Data on renewable energy and sustainability targets set by Fortune 500 companies was collected from publically available corporate commitments. CNEE’s report is the final installment in a four-part paper series for Advanced Energy Economy Institute (AEE Institute), an educational affiliate of AEE.

Together, these two reports reflect the opportunity that corporate renewable energy commitments present to states. As more companies set increasingly ambitious targets, the directive has never been clearer for states to take action by reducing market barriers.

About Advanced Energy Economy and the Advanced Energy Economy InstituteAdvanced Energy Economy (AEE) is a national association of businesses that are making the energy we use secure, clean, and affordable. AEE’s mission is to transform public policy to enable the rapid growth of advanced energy companies. AEE and its State and Regional Partner organizations are active in 27 states across the country, representing more than 1,000 companies and organizations in the advanced energy industry. The affiliatedAdvanced Energy Economy Institute (AEE Institute) is a nonprofit educational and charitable organization whose mission is to raise awareness of the public benefits and opportunities of advanced energy.

About the Center for the New Energy EconomyThe Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) provides policy makers including governors, legislators, regulators and other decision makers with a roadmap that will accelerate the nationwide development of the new energy economy. That economy will create and keep jobs in the United States; encourage development and use of clean and affordable domestic energy; protect our environment and climate; and keep America on the leading edge of global competition.